Simi Valley council adopts $68 million budget

The Simi Valley City Council has approved a $67.9 million operating budget for fiscal year 2013-14, closing a $4.4 million deficit in part by leaving vacant positions unfilled but not by cutting jobs or curtailing services.

Separate from the city’s general fund budget, the council Monday night also approved a $37.8 million waterworks operating budget, a $15.1 million sanitation spending plan and a $6 million transit fund budget.

The $4.4 million deficit was eliminated by carrying over a $2.4 million surplus from fiscal year 2012-13, making $1.4 million in cuts through freezing vacant positions and reducing funding for some nonessential programs, and tapping an economic stabilization fund for $775,000, said interim Assistant City Manager Jim Purtee.

The city has 597 authorized full-time regular positions — 523 of them filled and 74 vacant, Purtee said.

Mayor Bob Huber congratulated city staff members for producing a budget with “a minimal impact on our employees in terms of cuts. Because we’re talking about people’s lives and families, and you succeeded in doing that in a very prudent way.

“I believe the citizens of our community will be pleased with this budget because it addresses the priorities the citizens believe are important,” he said. “It hasn’t made any major impacts in terms of the services we are providing.”

Councilman Steve Sojka expressed some budget concerns, one of which was the sharply rising cost of water the city buys out of its waterworks budget. He said that will be offset once the city’s reclaimed-water project is operational. Currently in the infrastructure phase, the project will let the city generate revenue by selling water cleaned at its sanitation plant to golf courses, schools and parks for landscape irrigation. The city will also be able to use that water for its irrigation needs, reducing the amount it needs to buy.

Sojka also is concerned that only $1.1 million is being allocated for street projects.

“We have miles and miles of roads ... in desperate need of repair, and we don’t have the money,” said Sojka, chairman of the Ventura County Transportation Commission. “That’s quality of life for residents.”

It remains to be seen whether city employees, who have previously taken 3 percent cuts to their compensation packages — salary and benefits — will get any of that back this fiscal year.

Contract negotiations just started, Purtee said.

“So we’ll be coming back in the first quarter with any changes there,” he said.

New City Manager Eric Levitt, who started last month, said Simi Valley is in better financial health than most other cities in the state and the nation.

“We’ve made tough decisions and will continue to have challenges facing us ahead,” Levitt said. “But Simi Valley is in very good shape to meet those challenges based on past prudent fiscal management by the city council.”

Budget Officer Rebekka Hosten, narrating a visual presentation for the council, said the city has a strong 17 percent in prudent reserves and that revenues are slowly beginning to recover.

“We continue to achieve despite economics,” she said. “Staff is focused on maintaining a high level of service to the Simi Valley public.”